


a night full of confused guilt and dysfunction

by kingozma



Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), Original Work
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Friendship/Love, Hurt/Comfort, reassurance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-08
Updated: 2014-05-08
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:07:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23955859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kingozma/pseuds/kingozma
Summary: involving veridia, an oc made by my second-half-of-highschool best friend cristi :3 her younger brother ran a DND campaign for us and it was very fun but also Full Of Males so my gnc chaotic evil character was not received and often abused by other party members. a tender scene between veridia and my oc, casual friday
Relationships: Casual Friday/Veridia (Dungeons and Dragons)





	a night full of confused guilt and dysfunction

_It was an awkward thing, sitting next to your best friend as he lay shivering and groaning from a sudden, severe stomach ache. What made it even more awkward was that he asked you to. What was there to do? Was your friendship at the point where it was alright to pet his belly or his hair and comfort him? Would he hiss and recoil, offended? It was all very confusing._

“–ridia.”

“Huh?!” The hobbit girl jolted, jerked roughly out of her thoughts. “Yes? What is it?”

Casual Friday chuckled raggedly, the back of one pale, thin hand resting on his forehead. His hair, normally wavy and even more beautiful than hers, clung awkwardly to his hand and forehead, and looked unclean. He no longer looked like a professional portrait, but almost human.

And so he croaked, still laughing in spite of his difficulty speaking clearly, “I’ve been trying to get your atTEN-nn-tion, you know.”

“Sorry… What were you saying?” Veridia asked with a forced smile, trying desperately to look a little less scatterbrained.

“At ease,” the cleric murmured with a half-hearted salute, a shaky exhale, a grunt, and a pained jolt, “I was _saying_ –”

“–Before you were so _rudely_ interrupted,” cut in Veridia with a pleased grin on her face.

“That I’ve been… Thinking!” Casual Friday yawned a little, shaking.

Oh no. Thinking was never a good thing.

Veridia’s grin seemed to decay a bit on her face, but she did try to keep it up, and she certainly was a trooper.

Noticing this, Casual Friday went on.

“Thinking that maybe we need a bit of a shift in strategy, and all…”

“R-right, yeah, you know,” Veridia stammered, “Th-the uh.”

“Right. The ‘uh’.” The cleric sighed and pinched his forehead, not out of annoyance at his friend, but out of the exasperation of mutual understanding. “It’s clear enough to me that they won’t just leave us be.” Shivered again, gave a small whine.

“They?”

“The BBCmen.”

Veridia snickered, doubling over gently, and Casual Friday rolled his eyes.

“Yes, yes,” the cleric said under his breath, admitting a chuckle or two. “Semen, semen, semen, I get it– h-hey!”

He swatted at the hobbit’s knee playfully, noticing her laughter grow louder at his immature speech.

“Sorry, sorry!” She cried, letting out her last giggles. “Okay. Okay. I’m calm. But yeah, I get what you’re saying…” Veridia’s smile grew somber, almost reserved, like she was afraid to speak too much.

Casual Friday stretched on the ground - though he overestimated his pain tolerance, curled up and gave a yelp loud enough to make Veridia flinch.

“So I was thinking.” He gave a wheezing chuckle, trying to forget about the searing pain in his stomach. “When did it begin?”

“When did it… Begin? It was with Swaggins, right? And the anti-magic thing–”

“No. The anti-magic thing. We were fine before that, right?”

Veridia scrunched up her nose.

“Y… Yeah, your point?”

“Have you ever felt unsafe?” he asked, without skipping a beat. “It started because of his bone to pick with _me_.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on–”

“It’s no skin off my back, you know, it’s just against my code! If innocents are endangered when I am around, then I’m not much of a 'hero’, I’m just reverting to my animal instinct, and that’s–”

“Hey! Come on, stop it–”

Without breathing.

“I mean it, would you rather I not be around? If I’m a danger to the group, I’ll find another group, it’s alright! We’ll keep in touch if you want to, we can write, we ca–”

“Casual Friday. Cut that out, RIGHT NOW.”

The sudden harsh, authoritative tone of Veridia’s voice snapped Casual Friday out of his trance. All at once, he saw clearly again - putting prescription glasses.

“… Ah. Right.” The cleric laughed again, the pain in his stomach being trampled by the cold growth. Fear. He was in troooouuuble, he did a baaaad thing. “I’m. Terribly sorry. I stopped thinking for a moment. I hope you can forgive me.”

Veridia gave a sigh, exhausted from that brief glimpse into his thoughts. “Y-yeah, you’re fine.” Recovering and regaining her posture, she was able to take the more active role of 'comforting friend’ that she initially wanted to.

“I mean, no.” The hobbit put up both hands, gesturing firmly. “You’re totally okay, I know why you’d feel that way… But it’s not your fault, okay? It’s not your responsibility how other people treat you. A-and, like, you’re my friend, I’d be sad if you left!”

That seem to strike a nerve with the cleric, as he gave a little shudder.

Pursing her lips, Veridia reached out and, with more awkwardness than both of them thought possible, brushed Casual Friday’s hair out of his face. His weary eyes flashed wide open, almost afraid of her gentle touch.

“You don’t have to go, o-okay? We can come up with something, we’ll get through this, okay? You’re like… My right hand man, you know?” She chuckled, jabbing at the air, “Or maybe I’m yours. Either way, we’re partners in crime! And I wouldn’t give that up for anything.”

Casual Friday inhaled a moment, blinking quickly and gave an overwhelmed chuckle, but before he could cut in, the hobbit went on.

“You’re not a threat, okay? I mean. You kind of would be if you were a different person. But like, you do that whole, redirecting your instincts for good, thing! So that means you’re a pretty good guy.”

“Stop, STOP, ohhh please,” the cleric suddenly sighed, covering his eyes with his arm and grinning widely, “I can’t take anymore. I’ll lose my mind if you go any further.” He began, all at once, to giggle maniacally, as if his life depended on it.

“E-eh?” Veridia stopped, as he pleaded, lifting both hands again as if to shield herself from the object making her cheeks suddenly start to glow.

Casual Friday managed to calm down, breathe steadily again, stop giggling. His head lulled to one side, and he sighed dreamily.

“You are a sweet and well-meaning girl,” he murmured, his voice warm and loving, wrapped in soft blankets, “I appreciate that you are alive.”

“H… H-heh. Thanks, I guess.” Veridia accepted the awkward comment, giggling to herself a bit.

A mutual silence fell upon them again, as the cleric’s pain had subsided, and he was drifting off to sleep, but neither of them seemed to mind. Before sleep could take him, Casual Friday managed to slur a request.

“Yyouu don’t mmind terribbly stickingg arouund? Ddo yoooou… … …?” His head nodded off a number of times over the course of that question, and he prayed she would answer before he gave in to sleep.

Meanwhile, Veridia’s heart did a backflip, and her mouth became dry.

“Oh! Yeah, uh. That’s fine.” She reached out again, with some more confidence, and squeezed her friend’s hand. The cleric’s face strained again with a sleepy smile, and his fingers twitched just slightly in an attempt to return the gesture. But by then, it was too late, he had just about passed out.

The hobbit laughed softly through a few huffs out of her nose, and she curled up beside him - not too close, not too intimate, not yet - but close enough to establish that she meant to be near him, that she belonged there.

“'Night, then, partner,” she whispered, curling up into herself with a giggle.


End file.
